Leadership Toolbox: the Template

[November 2, 2018] Every day you wake up it’s a new day to be great again and make great decisions. Decision making is something leaders do and are expected to do it well. One way to “see” the work environment and reach logical decisions is with the use of templates.

Templates are established and proven analytical techniques that help predict what will happen in the future based upon current actions. A leader using a template can get a faster understanding of what is happening by only looking at part of the puzzle. The template can be compared to the picture on which the puzzle is based.

To illustrate, the use of templates in the U.S. military is common and used as part of the Military Decision Making Process (see a version of this, link here). A military commander who is defending a city can predict what type of enemy forces that will attack based upon only a small piece of information. The template provides an invaluable tool and gives the user a significant advantage; whether it be in military affairs, business, strategy development, or just a dad taking his kids to the park.

At the everyday individual level ,we use templates without even thinking about it. In large organizations where decisions can make or break a company, the templates are a carefully guarded model of the competition. Individually, we use them to tell ourselves where the best deals are in the local grocery store or the best playground for our young children.

Inevitably, the template helps take the unknown out of future events. However, it is incumbent upon the user to garner at least some information to place into the template in order to determine if there is a good fit. Once the fit is reviewed, the puzzle can be seen better using the template.

Being a leader is not an easy task. It requires gaining an advantage and saving time when possible. That is what templates do.

Thanks to www.theLeaderMaker.com reader Kenny Foster for the recommendation of this topic for my “leadership toolbox.”

Fortunately the tremendous amount of resources out there now boggles the mind. In my day, there was no way we could find anything to help. You put it together yourself or if lucky you found someone who would attempt to guide you a little bit. Today, we have leader toolkits and they work.

Some people think that using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to improve teamwork is a winner. What is the MBTI?
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most popular psychological instruments used to describe and measure personality characteristics. It is commonly used in business to encourage optimal communication and teamwork among different personalities.

Leader tools are those proven techniques that can be used by anyone to make things better. Truly good leaders use them all the time because it requires little thought since they do work. Thanks for listing these out for us.

I agree from personal experience that this is a really good set of tools for the leader. I’m not sure which is my favorite in the list but the latest, “templates” certainly made me think about the mental patterns that successful leaders have.